Olabode Ososami's Blog, page 52

An Everlasting Possession

Gen 48:4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

God promised Jacob so many things. It is indeed amazing that Jacob is promised not just the temporal but the everlasting. Fruitfulness, growth and expansion are of God … an expression of His lavish abundance and inimitable excess. Jacob is to be made fruitful and his seed …whatever comes from his loins is bound in a covenant that will reach even into eternity. The blessings of Abraham reached down to Isaac, to Jacob …and today all Christians are God’s special children …they partake in what God has promised.

Please do note that it is God that is making promises and not man and the land is a gift and not earned …and it will be forever not just for today. It is all grace and mercy and someday in eternity, we will all thank God for what He has given us – things we could never earn.

How can a land be an everlasting possession … if we are not one day going to become everlasting beings in an everlasting body … blessed in everlasting residences. What a mystery? To be a people of God with an everlasting possession. To be given and have something that will last forever is not easy to understand in a world that can only appreciate what it can see today. Indeed Jacob was blessed with an everlasting possession but for many decades he lived often confused, manipulative and despondent in thinking God has changed his mind. God has not changed His mind concerning you. You will yet rejoice in your eternal heritage.

Remember, your maker is your Husband – in love with you … who He sees as the apple of His eye. You wonder how this can be you … Jacob would also spend years wondering too – but this changed nothing. God still loves you.

Song.

Thou my everlasting Portion, more than friend or life to me,

All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee.

Close to Thee, close to Thee, Close to Thee, close to Thee;

All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee.

Not for ease or worldly pleasure, Not for fame my prayer shall be;

Gladly will I toil and suffer, only let me walk with Thee.

Lead me through the vale of shadows, bear me o’er life’s fitful sea;

Then the gate of life eternal – may I enter, Lord, with Thee.

Prayer: Lord, Be my everlasting portion …Amen

The Songs of Joseph is an integration of encouragement scriptural devotions, prayers and a compendium of songs of mercy, salvation, new beginnings and victory. We can expect as we trust and obey that our end will indeed be ultimately glorious because God works His marvellous agenda. Be blessed as you read and sing along, daily. Edited by Bolade Apampa

Luz

Gen 48:3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me.

There was a time when Jacob was fleeing from his angry brother Esau, after he had stolen the blessings that belonged to Esau. At this time of fear and confusion, God came to comfort him in a place called Luz. Here Jacob vowed that God will be his God forever – if only He could always have the assurance of His presence. Also many years later, Jacob is again faced with the misdeeds of his sons after the daughter of Leah, Dinah is defiled. Again Jacob is told to raise an altar at Luz, getting rid of all the strange gods and idols …God appears to him after Rebekah’s nurse dies and blesses him.

The most important introduction to Joseph is that blessings come from God. We only succeed because God blesses us to be fruitful. God is the source of our comforts when we need them, all blessings that will last for good and not man – although He uses our earthly and spiritual fathers. Joseph is reminded that the reason for his success and miraculous turnaround was the blessing of God that was upon his father, Jacob – even before Joseph was born.

Pro 10:22 The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

Jacob was overjoyed at this time and could see that he only had to wait for God to realize that the blessing of the Lord is more than sufficient. Jacob was reminding Joseph to depend on God and teach his children to do the same. Jacob was telling Joseph the source of the blessings that he was about to now bless his son and grandsons with.

In spite of the challenges, rashness, guile and deception that trailed Jacob’s life, God’s blessing in his life still was able to see him through. Jacob also calls God … Almighty. God does not need your help to bring His will to pass. All power belongs to Him. He has no shortages requiring our support. He is Almighty, all powerful and all knowing. Joseph needs to be aware of this and beware of the failings of His father. Today, look up afresh to God. Worship Him as the Almighty God. All blessings come from Him who is faithful and powerful to bring all His purposes to pass. This is a good day to worship Him.

Song.

Almighty God, Almighty King

You are the Lord of everything

The Highest Praise to you I bring

Almighty God. Almighty King

Prayer: Lord, I worship you today – The Almighty. Amen

The Songs of Joseph is an integration of encouragement scriptural devotions, prayers and a compendium of songs of mercy, salvation, new beginnings and victory. We can expect as we trust and obey that our end will indeed be ultimately glorious because God works His marvellous agenda. Be blessed as you read and sing along, daily. Edited by Bolade Apampa

Blessings of the Father

Gen 48:1 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.

Joseph has a deep understanding of the value of being rejoined to his father. This is not just for the communion and love, but there are powerful pronouncements that only a father can make. Jacob is 147 years old but death does not snatch him unprepared. Joseph is also not unprepared … God will help us at important dates to be available when we need to be. God will also provide strength in whatever form it is needed so we do not miss our blessings.

Joseph is the first to be alerted on the sickness of his father. It is not impossible that he had ensured that someone is assigned with the task to monitor the condition of his father. Joseph had been close to Jacob in the first seventeen years and while others kept the flock or ran errands … Joseph sat with Jacob and learnt the important lessons that will keep him in Egypt, in prison and eventually as prime minister.

One of the things Joseph had learnt was the importance of the blessing of the father. I can imagine how he must have wondered in the years in prison …how the blessings – he had so heard about will come to him – now that he was a slave. But, now Joseph is now no longer a slave, but a leader …he is no more far from home but united with his father. His father is greatly honored and does not die hungry in a famine, but lives comfortably in Egypt. All so that the blessings that must come to Joseph and his children are passed down.

Do not despise your father – physical or spiritual. Honor your parents. If you have fallen out with them – go and find them so that they may bless you for good. Joseph had been taught to care more for the father’s blessing than all the treasures of Egypt. I wonder where his other brothers were at this time. Do you care about the things of God? Our Heavenly Father has so many blessings stored for us in His word? Do you know about them or care about them? Or do you care more for the visible new comforts and riches that you have just come into. Joseph was taught to get his priorities right. This was the moment he had been waiting all his life for.

Song.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,

Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Prayer: Lord, teach me to care for spiritual things. Help me to watch and wait for the blessings that must come by His grace. Show me all the Father’s blessings for me. Let none fail. amen

The Songs of Joseph is an integration of encouragement scriptural devotions, prayers and a compendium of songs of mercy, salvation, new beginnings and victory. We can expect as we trust and obey that our end will indeed be ultimately glorious because God works His marvellous agenda. Be blessed as you read and sing along, daily. Edited by Bolade Apampa

Bury me not in Egypt

Gen 47:29 And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. 31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head

Does it matter where we are buried? It did to Jacob and taught Joseph an important lesson. Our walk with God does not end with our years of life … even when it is time to return to our maker, God also has instructions that He gives. God can use our life just as He can use our death. There are many men of God who heard detail instructions about their death and how they were to die and be buried. There are many things we may not understand now about death that we will understand in the future.

Jacob did not want to be buried in Egypt, where his body may been ritualized in pagan rites or where his corpse will be in the company of demons. God showed Jacob a future day when his body will be resurrected and he will need to be seen on the streets of Jerusalem … at the time of the crucifixion of Christ …by many.

Joh 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice…Mat 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

The Bible does not mention the name of the saints and whose graves were opened …but we can safely assume that the graves were not the graves of Egypt. Our God reigns in living and in dying. We must obey Him in living but also more in our dying. I have seen Christians giving strange instructions at their death …to be cremated and their ashes poured in the sea or somewhere …as if they had a right to declare how they wanted to die and their bodies treated. Do not be buried as the Egyptians, just as you did not live like them. The Egyptians were buried with earthly possessions and treasures as though they could take them to the afterlife. When the end comes as it will eventually – remain obedient to the voice that has daily guided you every day of your life. Empty you came and empty you must return. God reigns even in death.

Song.

Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise; This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;

This still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee; More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Prayer: Lord, let my love for you which translates to obedience – increase even much more in my dying than it was in times of youth and the earlier days. Amen.

The Songs of Joseph is an integration of encouragement scriptural devotions, prayers and a compendium of songs of mercy, salvation, new beginnings and victory. We can expect as we trust and obey that our end will indeed be ultimately glorious because God works His marvellous agenda. Be blessed as you read and sing along, daily. Edited by Bolade Apampa

Mortality

Gen 47:29 And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. 31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head

We are mortals. This means we will one day wrap up our work here and go home. Although Jacob lived 147 remarkable years, a time eventually came when he knew God was calling him home. It can be glorious when God gives us notice that it is time to join Him in eternity. This should not cause any to fear – for there is a glory ahead that surpasses all we have ever experienced. But only if we did well in the time we spent in earth. There will be an accounting. For Jacob, he knew what he must do at that time. Death can be very organized and beautiful …like an arranged drama presentation in different parts …Jacob acted his final scenes like a professional.

First he must receive assurance that he would not be buried in Egypt but in the cave of his fathers. Second he must bless Joseph and his children separately and finally he must bless his other sons. Our love for God fills us with an important sense of assignment. Are there things that God wants us to do that has not been done? Are there things that must be done at our dying moments? How do we die well? A man that lives for God will know exactly what to do. A man who has lived for himself is full of fear and a sense of impending judgment at these final moments. There is no fear for Jacob … he has seen God complete His plans through him and has no regrets. How will your own end be? Begin the process of a closer walk with God today and enjoy the benefits of a calm transition to His prepared eternity.

Song.

More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee! Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee.

This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to Thee; More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest; Now Thee alone I seek, give what is best.

This all my prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee; More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise; This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;

This still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee; More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Prayer: Lord, let my love for you which translates to obedience – increase even much more in my dying than it was in times of youth and the earlier days. Amen.

The Songs of Joseph is an integration of encouragement scriptural devotions, prayers and a compendium of songs of mercy, salvation, new beginnings and victory. We can expect as we trust and obey that our end will indeed be ultimately glorious because God works His marvellous agenda. Be blessed as you read and sing along, daily. Edited by Bolade Apampa

The Best is Ahead

Gen 47:28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.

The best is yet to come. Long years awaited Jacob. Not years of sorrow thinking about Joseph in a famine. But years in which all his long abandoned dreams all came true. Years in which he knew that Jehovah truly reigned. Those 17 years were truly remarkable for Jacob. Every day Jacob must have pinched himself to see if he will wake up and discover that all was only a dream. God has saved the best for the last for you – because that is the best time to experience His best. Those years wiped away all the previous years, and caused him to forget if there was ever a time when Joseph was not with him.

Psa 126:1 A Song of degrees. When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.

The turning of captivity can be done in different ways. The way God turns captivity is likened by David to a dream. Indeed there were times when David in the caves or running from one place to another or when he got to Ziklag only to find he had lost everything. Times when like Jacob, he must have looked up only for death. But God was still at work, and the story was not over. David was still going to rejoice as King.

Be encouraged. You will see your captivity turned and you will be amazed at what God has in store for you – when you have come to the end of your efforts. When you stop limiting God with your good intentions. when you stop imagining that God is waiting for you to do something instead of realizing that you must simply wait on God. Jacob said he was ready for death at the ripe age of one hundred and thirty when he saw Joseph was alive … but God still gave him seventeen extra years of joy …

Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

It was after Joseph’s seventeenth birthday that his troubles started. That number must have brought bad memories for Jacob. But God used 17 more years to wipe away all the pains that came after Joseph turned seventeen. There is someone reading this devotional … wait on the Lord. Soon you will testify saying …”Am I dreaming?”.

Song.

God, your blessings overflow! What can we begin to say?

How can we begin to show, All our gratitude this day?

God, we join to worship you, Giving thanks for all you do.

Thank you for the life you give, For each friend and family,

For the land in which we live, For your love that sets us free.

Thank you, God, for daily bread, And for feasts of joy you spread.

Prayer: Lord, teach me to wait on you. Turn again my captivity that I may say ” I must be dreaming…” Amen

The Songs of Joseph is an integration of encouragement scriptural devotions, prayers and a compendium of songs of mercy, salvation, new beginnings and victory. We can expect as we trust and obey that our end will indeed be ultimately glorious because God works His marvellous agenda. Be blessed as you read and sing along, daily. Edited by Bolade Apampa

A Different Blessing

Gen 47:27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly…

Now we see in these verses describing the different arrangements made for Israel. We read in previous verses that Egypt had to sell all their property, and relocated to work on farms in the famine, and to bring a tax to Pharaoh- only to manage the rest. The different arrangement for Israel as they occupied influential positions enabled them to gather possessions, to grow and multiply exceedingly. They were given special rations and provisions in Egypt.

The blessings for Israel even in Egypt exceeded those enjoyed by the Egyptians because of Joseph. Are Christians going to be blessed even in this wicked world? When Christ spoke of the blessings for His followers, he spoke of a hundred fold in this time… and in the world to come;

Mar 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

Our contact and surrender to Christ, and obedience to Him places us in a unique position of rare blessing to increase even in famine. This is first spiritual but it will be physical as well … as houses etc. also increase. Joseph had given all, and he reaped such a huge harvest, more than enough to cater for his brothers forever. Christ sowed his life and all that truly surrender and love Him are in a covenant to prosper even as their soul prospers even eternally. So why do we still have issues as Christians, why do we experience lack? Why do we not have the abundant life and still have to struggle. Why can we not define our situation as prosperous through the poverty of Christ?

Isa 49:15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. … Isa 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

Am I willing? Am I obedient? What do these mean? Can it be that many are not willing to eat the good of the land? Can it be that some are disobedient? Are we afraid to be blessed … many are unwilling invitees to Him who says all is ready. But God makes us willing in His time, and may God help our obedience for there is still a lot of selective obedience. We cannot antagonize God with our actions and expect the same God to bless us. But our God is also sovereign – He does as He pleases and will be magnified and moves when He desires. He raises up and brings down, without answering to any. He has a timetable for everything. We cannot move ahead of His pre-appointed seasons.

Song.

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,

I’ll lay my trophies down, All down at Jesus’ feet.

Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

Prayer: Lord, help me to be willing and obedient to you in every regard. Amen

The Songs of Joseph is an integration of encouragement scriptural devotions, prayers and a compendium of songs of mercy, salvation, new beginnings and victory. We can expect as we trust and obey that our end will indeed be ultimately glorious because God works His marvellous agenda. Be blessed as you read and sing along, daily. Edited by Bolade Apampa

Two Different Dispensations

Gen 47:27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly..

The Bible presents two broad ways when speaking of prospering and the principles of enterprise. Both ways involve diligence particularly in sowing seed which refers to applying an input. The input could be our business ideas, our career efforts, and our investments in skill development, sacrificial giving or even financial investments of our surplus. These two ways are different but we often can confuse one for the other or be found in a mix, not really having left one approach fully while seeking to enter the other.

Egypt, in the Bible, was a luxurious and wealthy empire but for the children of Israel it eventually represented the place of their captivity and bondage where they were enslaved to deliver target productions of bricks. It represents a dispensation of wealth which enslaves the child of God to mammon – a wicked and crafty hard task master. Egypt can appear welcoming, rewarding and fair – but has a natural disposition to kill, steal and destroy when the opportunity presents itself. Canaan is the land of promise, flowing with milk and honey, but occupied by hostile tribes occupying cities with mighty walls, representing strongholds of thought – which must be pulled down.

Between Egypt and Canaan is the wilderness experience, a place where the Israelites grumbled and murmured – never understanding the ways of their God, but often seeing His acts of deliverance and miracles of provision. In the wilderness, the Israelites though not in Egypt still think like Egypt but on a journey out of Egypt to the place of promise. Only few of those who left Egypt enter the Promised Land, but a new generation of Israelites enter and become the citizens of the Land of milk and honey – the land of rest.

In Egypt, there is much industry, achievement and several diagnoses and treatments, but no cures. There is always a longing, a thirsting but never a satisfaction. Vanity is available as the pill to soothe us to sleep and keep us going. The more we have, the more we need to have as more goods become essential and our insatiable thirsts run out of control. In the end we rationalize our situations and say things cannot be perfect – when money fails to satisfy and eventually fails completely.

In this text, the children get a foretaste of the provision of rain from Heaven, enjoying what they have not labored for while Egyptians sold their property and exhausted all their hard earned savings even as money completely failed. In the dispensation of Egypt, Money is the currency – but it always eventually fails. For God, our faith and obedience and mercy combine to a different means of exchange. Goshen is a foretaste of Canaan, the promised land which foreshadows God’s Heaven. The question to ask here is this. Are you living by faith or on principles of Egypt? You cannot do both.

Song.

I have a God who never fails 3ce

Who never fails – who never fails for ever more

Amen. Jesus never fails 3ce

For ever more

Prayer: Lord, teach me your divine wisdom not to labor in vain. Amen

The Songs of Joseph is an integration of encouragement scriptural devotions, prayers and a compendium of songs of mercy, salvation, new beginnings and victory. We can expect as we trust and obey that our end will indeed be ultimately glorious because God works His marvellous agenda. Be blessed as you read and sing along, daily. Edited by Bolade Apampa

A Grievous Blessing

Gen 47:24 And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.

Joseph orders a tax for Pharaoh of 20%. This is not a tithe, but actually more than the tithe. The taxation laws are permitted by God, and ordained by God. It is strange that God ordained a tithe …10% for His own …but 20% to Pharaoh. Is it a wonder that He says His yoke is easy and His burden is light? This was in a period of serious inflation (failure of money) and dearth (outside the barns of Pharaoh)… and to add to their pains …farming in a time of famine and difficulty …perhaps there were no rains and the harvest was lean …Do recall that this was in the seven years of leanness. A higher tax is levied again as though the burdens of leanness were not sufficient.

The systems of the world has learnt a lot from what God has assigned to the children of Egypt. The higher taxes, in times of recession …the increase in costs and levies in periods of inflation multiplies the travails of the wicked. The wicked must fend for themselves. they must find seed, feed their household out of 80% of what is left after working hard in a tough terrain. But this is not the lot of the children of Israel. Indeed all are bound to obey the rules of the land – even taxation, but there is another kingdom, another realm of spiritual and physical provision. A place called Goshen. All our increase must glorify God as we obey the rules of the land. Are you in any way cheating on your taxes …it is a good time to repent and restitute. Although the Egyptians are fed, they do so only through labor harvesting the fields in times of tough famine. God’s best is not to keep us from evil through a grievous process. Like Jabez, God has supernatural provisions that keeps us from evil without grievous yokes. May we be so blessed to give so easily from the excess of God in our care.

1Ch 4:10 Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed … that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

Song.

Zacchaeus was a tax man who one day climbed a tree,

For he was short in stature and said he could not see.

And yet he had a problem that mattered even more:

He didn’t see the suffering his greed had caused the poor

O Lord, you saw Zacchaeus– so wealthy, yet alone.

You said, “Come down—and hurry! I’m coming to your home.”

For you broke bread with sinners and saw within each one

A person loved and treasured– God’s daughter or God’s son.

It wasn’t just the treetop that helped Zacchaeus see;

Your love and welcome showed him how different life could be.

He said that he’d start over and work to make things fair;

He’d speak the truth, bring justice, and find new ways to share.

O Christ, you bid us welcome and help us all to see!

May we respond by building a just society.

Then children won’t be hungry and all will share your bread.

Then those who now must struggle will live in joy instead

Prayer: Lord, may I not partake in the lot of the wicked. Change my positioning. Amen

The Songs of Joseph is an integration of encouragement scriptural devotions, prayers and a compendium of songs of mercy, salvation, new beginnings and victory. We can expect as we trust and obey that our end will indeed be ultimately glorious because God works His marvellous agenda. Be blessed as you read and sing along, daily. Edited by Bolade Apampa

Travails of the Wicked

Gen 47:21 And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. 22 Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands. 23 Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

What can the wicked expect but to sow, to work on a land that is not theirs … to be dispossessed of their own property …

Ecc 2:26 For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Have you observed the wicked rich, how they fuss, plan, worry and put so many ventures into place, only at the end to see it all as a meaningless travail. The sinner does not know the God of Israel. His ignorance is not an excuse, as he travails for Pharaoh, sows on a land that is not his …he has been under the yoke of bondage which he does not recognize. He harvests, but is unsure of how much he will enjoy. His days are full of travail. He is dislocated from his family and sent to farm the land in another area … he misses his family and groans under burdensome … but there is a famine and he must do all that is required to survive. These are the travails of the wicked … and not meant for you. The wicked have been sold to evil … to Pharaoh to farm his lands. This is the dispensation of modern commerce.

But you have not been sold to Pharaoh, you are a specially preserved people of God. Do not forget this. You are different. You are chosen. Ponder over these verses to appreciate the difference between the lot of the rest of the world and the chosen family of Israel in these times of famine. The difference is not earned by merit … It could not be merit …what would you say the brothers of Joseph did to deserve this? It was grace and all favor. To be in the family of God and not the camp of the wicked groaning on the farmlands of Pharaoh, sold to sin and foolishness … it’s all grace. Observe that the best that the sinner can expect no matter how sugar coated or gold plated it may appear – is travail. There is grace to come out of sin.

Song.

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!

Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured, There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Refrain: Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold, Threaten the soul with infinite loss;

Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold, Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide. What can avail to wash it away?

Look! There is flowing a crimson tide, Brighter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, Freely bestowed on all who believe!

You that are longing to see His face, Will you this moment His grace receive?

Prayer: Lord, what an amazing grace, what a marvelous grace that spared my life from the travails and the yoke of mammon. I thank You, Lord. May your grace be always more than sufficient. Amen

The Songs of Joseph is an integration of encouragement scriptural devotions, prayers and a compendium of songs of mercy, salvation, new beginnings and victory. We can expect as we trust and obey that our end will indeed be ultimately glorious because God works His marvellous agenda. Be blessed as you read and sing along, daily. Edited by Bolade Apampa